Soto

Reverend Master Kinrei Bassis is a Soto Zen priest and Abbot of the Berkeley Buddhist Priory (an affiliate of Shasta Abbey), which he began leading in 1997. A Dharma successor of the late Houn Jiyu-Kennett, he was ordained a monk in 1979 and received Dharma transmission in 1982. Jiyu Kennett then named him Master in 1987.

James Daikan Bastien began his Zen training under the direction of senior monastic students of Dainin Katagiri Roshi at the Nebraska Zen Center in Omaha, Nebraska in 1979. In 1990, Daikan began training with Zen Master Soeng Hyang in the Kwan Um School of Zen where he trained for the next 10 years while administering human service organizations in Rhode ...

Madeline Ko-i Bastis was the first ordained Buddhist priest to be certified as a hospital chaplain. She was the founder of Peaceful Dwelling, an organization devoted to teaching meditation techniques for healing in Long Island, New York. She was the author of Peaceful Dwelling and a dharma successor of the late Peter Matthiessen.

Ezra Bayda is a member of the White Plum Asanga and has been practicing meditation since 1970. He originally trained in the Gurdjieff tradition, living in a community led by Robert De Ropp. He began formal Zen practice in 1978, studying first with Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi, and then later with Jakusho Kwong Roshi. In 1992 he began working with Charlotte ...

Jan Chozen Bays (born August 9, 1945) is a Zen priest of the White Plum Asanga practicing in Oregon, where she is co-abbot of Great Vow Zen Monastery with her husband Laren Hogen Bays and also the teacher of the Zen Community of Oregon. Jan began her Zen studies in 1973 and in 1979 she received priestly ordination from Taizan ...

Laren Hogen Bays (born 1949) is a Zen priest of the White Plum Asanga, a leader of the Zen Community of Oregon, and co-abbot of Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, Oregon. A practitioner of Zen Buddhism for 40 years now, Hogen began his practice in 1969 under Philip Kapleau at Rochester Zen Center. Of that time Hogen says, “My ...

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Yvon Myoken Bec (born 1949) is a Soto Zen teacher and the founding abbot of Mokusho Zen House in Hungary and Romania. Mokusho Zen House has three affiliate temples, Hoboji in Hungary, Taisenji in Budapest and Mokushozenji in Bucharest, Romania. He was born in Paris in 1949 and studied law and philosophy, receiving his MA degree at Sorbonne (University of ...

Charlotte Joko Beck (March 27, 1917 – June 15, 2011) was an American Zen pioneer and dharma successor of the late Taizan Maezumi Roshi She was the founder of Ordinary Mind Zen and an influential author. Born March 27, 1917 in New Jersey, Beck came to Zen practice in her early 40s – much later than most convert Buddhists. She ...

Bernd Bender has practiced Zen since 1987. He went to California in 1994 to continue his studies at San Francisco Zen Center. There he received Lay Dharma Entrustment (authorization to teach) from Dairyu Michael Wenger in 2010. In 2012 he moved to Berlin, where he offers Zen practice, teaches courses in meditation and Buddhist thought, translates, lectures, and accompanies people ...

Rev. Patricia Dai-En Bennage found her path on Buddhism with A Manual of Zen by D. T. Suzuki in 1958. A resident of Japan for 23 years, she began practice with the Rinzai Zen Master Omori Sogen Roshi in Tokyo in 1975. She later received priest precepts from Noda Daito Roshi, and trained at the NiSodo, the Women’s training monastery ...

Raul Ensho Berge Sensei is an assistant teacher at the Zen Center of Los Angeles. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a Jewish-Christian family that had fled Nazi Germany. As a young man, he immersed himself in political activities, including union activism and state government. He fled Argentina a year after the military coup of 1976, eventually finding ...

Bhikkhuni Pannavati is is Co-Abbot of Embracing Simplicity Hermitage in the US and a founding circle director of Sisters of Compassionate Wisdom, an international 21st century trans-lineage Buddhist Order and Sisterhood. Ordained in both Theravada and Mahayana traditions with Vajrayana empowerments and dharma transmission from Roshi Bernie Glassman of Zen Peacemakers, she is a teacher and contemplative engaged in compassionate action globally; ...

Jishi Jeff Bickner was ordained in 2003 by Zoketsu Norman Fischer at Green Gulch Farm (Muir Beach, CA) and completed shuso training in 2006. He began practice at the Santa Cruz Zen Center with Kobun Chino in 1974. He moved to Green Gulch in 1980 and practiced there and at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (Carmel Valley, CA) until 1988. He now ...

Charles Shinkai Birx (born December 24, 1944), along with his wife Ellen Jikai Birx, is co-founder of New River Zen Community in Radford, VA. In 1998 he received Dharma transmission from Roshi Robert Jinsen Kennedy. He is a member of the White Plum Asanga and the American Zen Teachers Association. He is co-author, along with his wife, of the book ...

Ellen Jikai Birx (born January 1, 1950), along with her husband Charles Shinkai Birx, is cofounder of New River Zen Community in Radford, VA. In 1998 she received Dharma transmission from Roshi Robert Jinsen Kennedy. She is a member of White Plum Asanga and the American Zen Teachers Association. She is the author of Healing Zen: Buddhist Wisdom on Compassion, ...

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Established in 2009 as a grassroots initiative, Sweeping Zen is a digital archive of information on Zen Buddhism. Featuring in-depth interviews, an extensive database of biographies, news, articles, podcasts, teacher blogs, events, directories and more, this site is dedicated to offering the public a range of views in the sphere of Zen Buddhist thought. We are also endeavoring to continue creating lineage charts for all Western Zen lines, doing our own small part in advancing historical documentation on this fabulous import of an ancient tradition. Come on in with a tea or coffee. You're always bound to find something new.

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